Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Hands-on

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Back with Bam to cause serious property damage. Hands-on and new screens.

By Douglass C. Perry

Neversoft, the guys who originated the best skateboarding on the planet with the first three Tony Hawk Pro Skater games, have expanded the series yet again. While it was never called an overhaul, Tony Hawk's Underground was indeed a re-thinking of the series that gave us a linear story plus an amazing amount of stuff to create, tinker with, and customize. Some fans felt it wasn't the end-all be-all, while a majority of players loved it. Or at least millions of them bought it. Tony Hawk's Underground 2: World Destruction Tour is the sixth game in the series, and it gives us a more humorous, more dense version of the game with highly interactive levels, dozens of new characters to skate with and unlock, and, as expected, a superlative 3D engine.

IGN traveled to Neversoft's offices last week to play the game and speak with Production Director Scott Pease, Designer Alan Flores and Producer Kevin Mulhall. Neversoft likes to do everything in groups, so as to not single out a particular person, and so I got healthy insights into the game, and a healthy earful of comments from all areas, including healthy feedback about my review on THUG. Apparently, Neversoft distinctly remembered my less than positive comments about the off-the-board controls (Hey Neversoft! I got my eyes on you!).

This year's model is once again an expansion, a tinkering and honing of existing ideas and an introduction of "new" ones. Appealing to Bam Margera's rowdy instincts and growing MTV fan-base, Margera joins Tony Hawk in the spotlight to lead a brand new story based on competition. You star once again as the newbie who's recently become a pro, and along with a throng of similar-level skaters, you're kidnapped by Bam and Tony to travel abroad in a world destruction tour. If last year's game was meant to be serious, this year's effort is going to be humorous and fun. The game is packed with personality and color. It's a competition in which the two teams, one led by Hawk, the other Margera, skate through the US, Spain, and several other locales to earn the most points. The winner gets respect and the loser pays the tab. Oh, and you'll destroy a healthy amount of property in the process (thus the World Destruction Tour).

The Story mode follows a linear progression, starting in Boston and following up in Madrid, Spain. There are eight levels altogether. Following last year's alteration, players will once again get instant and automatic upgrades to the techniques they use the most, i.e. rails, air, etc. Again, you'll also be able to gain new objectives by skating around and speaking with NPCs. And once you've completed a majority of the goals, another level opens up. (And like last year, you can pick a difficulty level.) One of the bigger changes turns out to be playable skaters. In each level you'll start out by selecting a pro (one of four in each level) and skating as either him or yourself. Switching skaters is easy. Skate by say, Bob Burnquist, and press a button, and you'll instantly switch to him. Stop the game, check the menus, and you'll see a new set of objectives.

The return of skating as a pro was no doubt a response to last year's game (which skipped that option for the first time), and it adds depth and variety back to gameplay. What doubles the fun is the introduction of third and fourth characters per level, a secret and a special skater. In each level these two "characters" must be searched out to skate, and each one has his own special moves, or he rides a very non-traditional vehicle. For instance, in Boston you'll unlock Ben Franklin who's got a Franklin Grind (something do with electricity, a key and a kite...I don't know) and Jesse James, who rides a flame-painted Seque-chopper. Thus for each level, you've got four characters worth of objectives.

We got a look at Boston. At first, the Boston, MA. level doesn't appear much bigger in terms of square feet. Instead it's densely packed with more vertical lines, a score of indoor sections, and off-the-board areas. There are apartment rooms to sneak into, subways to explore, boats to skate on, and quiet libraries to sound off in. The new moves range across the board. There are those you can make in Create-a-Trick and then try out in your very own customized level (which PS2 owners can once again bring online), and there are those special to the characters themselves. One new move is Natas, a super quick 360 around the top of a fire hydrant that quickly racks up points.